The Thief With One Name
by MarcieMarmalade
Summary: A one-shot about Parker's first "true" theft.


For a girl that was raised in such dire conditions, the thief is quite a site for sore eyes. Her face is soft and pretty, her eyes are an ice blue, and her hair is a deep brown that she bleaches blonde, as if it would be a perfect disguise.

She is fairly slender, perfect for maneuvering herself around tight spaces such as air vents. But, however skilled, she is young. Only 14 years old.

And this girl does not have a real name. As far as she is concerned, she will never have a real name. She just goes by what she made up when she was a child.

_"What is your name?"_

_"Parker."_

_"Parker...?"_

_"Nothing else. Just Parker."_

Of course this will get her the occasional odd look, but she decided at a young age that she does not care. At the time, Parker only cared for Parker, no one else was important.

Not that anyone else really cared.

But as she stares at the ground before her, Parker can only think of the present. She tucks her hair under a tight black hat and moves about the perimeter of the roof. She knows that there are several guards posted on each floor, carefully making sure nobody -thief or otherwise- can get in.

Too bad for them.

She opens up the shaft that juts out from the roof. It is long, deep, and dark. Just for fun, she screams "PINEAPPLE!" into it. She giggles as the word echos through the metal walls.

...I suppose it would be a good time to mention our one-named thief is a bit of a nut.

But based on her early years, she can't very well be blamed for that.

Parker hooks her zip-line up properly, exactly how her mentor Archie has taught her. Then she slips the harness on, the deep black of it matching her shirt and pants. She practically grins as she stares down the steel abyss, already feeling the wind rush around her body, and her heart race with adrenaline. She quickly stands on the edge of the vent, her balance completely centered and steady.

_"You're like a cat!" Archie remarked with a laugh._

_"Thanks! I do like cats!" Parker called as she walked the thin rafters of the barn with ease._

As soon as she's secure, she's jumps down, struggling to hold back a "WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!"

But then, a horrid thought hits her: how will she stop?

She never heard Archie say anything about _stopping_.

For what may have been the first time, she panicked, imagining her legs shattering against the bottom of the vent. When she closes her eyes, however, she jerks to a stop. A still silence hangs in the air, only interrupted by the thief's shallow breaths. With a shaking hand, she pulls a flashlight out of the small bag attached to her belt and directs it's beam beneath her.

Her feet were dangling just centimeters above the bottom of the ventilation shaft.

This caused her to start laughing. A loud, hysterical near-cackle that people seem to emit when they have a brush with death, or another terrible predicament. Parker unhooked herself from the harness, still letting out short, breathy chuckles. She drops the short distance to the floor and crouches down. Looking around, she sees she has two options: left or right?

Now, one of the main things that makes Parker have such potential in thievery at this time (and why she is such an excellent thief today) is because of her memory. It is exceptional, especially when it comes to the maps, floor plans, and blueprints of buildings.

_"Where do they have security measures positioned...?" Archie grumbled to himself as he observed the blueprint, frustrated out of his wits. It was a very complicated system, you see. One of the newer ones that would take him a long time to plan with._

_"First floor and third floor both have more guards because those floors have more valuable stuff. Other ones have about 3 positioned at_ night._ There are cameras about a yard apart in every room, and they have lasers set up in 3-b as well as 1-a."_

_Archie turned to his trainee in shock, who looked back with a nonchalant expression, eating her cereal._

Parker thinks about it for a moment, and remembers that from this point, the Egypt section should be about 40 feet to the right.

The thief does something along the lines of a kick-wiggle that gets her onto her stomach, then starts to make her way through the tunnel. The metal feels cold against her body, and she shivers slightly as she crawls along. The smell of it is not musty, as you may expect, but fresh and tangy. Parker smacked her lips, the stench leaving a taste in her mouth. It was almost if she had licked a penny. She snorts at the thought of taking the spare change out of a stranger's pocket and licking it. Maybe she should do it next time she goes out into a public place, just to see how they react. Though they honestly might not even notice her taking the money in the first place...

It is at this moment Parker decides she is **too** good.

But meh. For now she will deal with it.

Soon she is right above the room, and the sent of old items drifts in her nose, causing her to have to stifle a sneeze. She pulls out the screwdriver she is also equipped with and starts unscrewing the bolts, wondering why the hell they would have them on the inside.

It was as if they were INVITING her to steal something.

Honestly, if Archie would let her, she would gladly take every item in the museum. But tonight, she has only one assignment.

She takes the vent piece so it won't fall and clatter to the ground, then drops down herself. The impact isn't too bad, there's only a 10 foot distance between the shaft and the floor.

The thief's sneakers slap against the tiles lightly as she explores the room, carefully looking for what she came to seize.

Suddenly, she hears footsteps coming down the hall. She hides behind a wooden display, holding her breath and tucking limbs in as Archie had taught her.

_"But what if someone comes?"_

_"Then you go back up."_

_Parker scoffed. "I meant, you know, if you're on the floor."_

_Archie shrugged._

_"You hide. Behind a display, in a closet, you can even get yourself against the ceiling if you'd like."_

_"...You mean like Spiderman?"_

_Archie chuckled. "Yes, I suppose. Just like Spiderman."_

Parker squeezes herself into a tight ball as the guard's flashlight lit parts of the room. She silently thanks the fact that's she's behind the display case instead of on one side of it. After a minute or so, the guard mumbles to himself and heads back down the hallway, shoes slapping against the tile as loudly as before.

The thief still stands up cautiously, taking another full minute to be upright. She then takes her own light and shines it on the case in front of her. Oh, she should have known! The ankh was sitting in that very case on stand covered in white leather, semi-obscured by it due to the angle at which Parker was standing. She quickly and quietly goes to the front of it, observing it from the best view. It's bigger than she thought, though she can probably still manage fitting it in her pack. Of course it's solid gold, embedded with shining jewels, it's crowing piece a large ruby which sits in the center. Parker doesn't take time to appreciate it's beauty, from her point of view it's some precious stones stuck into a weird looking cross. She knows there are no lasers to get in her way, so she is free to lift the glass case up.

This reiterates her mental point of being invited to take something, or everything for that matter.

She slips the ankh into her pack, replaces the case, and makes her way back to the shaft. She doesn't hesitate, doesn't explore, because if there was one thing Archie stressed upon, it was a hasty escape with a clean getaway.

_"Once you are finished, you need to get out of there fast. And I mean FAST. Even someone skilled at fighting as well knows they can't afford to dawdle, because they could be caught. You always have to keep yourself safe. Escapes are fast and clean, not long and messy."_

But then she realizes another dilemma- she has left her zipline where it was, so she could get back up to the roof.

She hadn't once thought about how she was to get back up into the shaft itself.

Panicking again, Parker quickly searches the room for a means of boosting herself (she already know that she would never be able to jump high enough to reach the vent on her own).

"Hey! What are you doing in here?!"

Parker froze still as she heard the voice. She turns to see security guard standing in the doorway, her flashlight pointed at her. But the woman's angry expression quickly melts into one Parker does't recognize.

"...You're just a kid." The guard says, frowning thoughtfully.

Parker doesn't reply, she just stands there like a deer in headlights. Half of her screams to get away, but the other reminds her she can't. At least not in a "fast and clean" way.

"Who are you?"

Silence.

"Are you a thief?"

Again, Parker doesn't respond.

"Is the ankh the only thing you took?"

This time, the thief finds the will to nod.

The guard frowns again. "How old are you?"

"...14."

Parker's voice doesn't sound like her own. At least, not to her.

The woman sighs. "Here, let me help you."

The young thief freezes as her enemy walks towards her.

The woman sighs. "You want to get into the vent, right?"

Parker nods.

"Here, let me give you a boost then. I'm 6 feet tall, it'll be enough."

As if to give Parker no choice in the matter, she walks over to the vent and kneels underneath it.

"Get on my shoulders, and I'll help you up."

After a moment of hesitation, she walks to the guard and places her foot on one of her shoulders gingerly.

The guard stands up, and Parker almost immediately catches her balance (though she does flinch when the woman grabs her ankles).

She reaches up into the vent and pulls herself in, scrambling to get her feet up.

The woman steps away and smiles up at Parker, who looks back at her curiously.

"Do you have parents?" the guard asks.

Well...

_"Oh, just SHUT UP!" her mother yelled._

_"Good girls don't hit back."_ _snarled her father._

But as she was about to say no, she remembered...

_"Do I matter to you?" Parker asked._

_"You mean the world to me, Parker." Archie said with a smile, pulling her into a tight_ _hug._

"Yes, a grandpa." she replies.

"Well tell him that next time he sends you out, to give you TWO harnesses!"

The thief has left, feeling surprised and a little confused.

And the woman has gone back to her job, the only evidence of anything happening the empty case at the center of the room.


End file.
